Hearst Bay Area Blog

A large part of boosting your reach and engagement on social media is attributed to the “quality” of content you post, and we strongly encourage posting more content like videos on Twitter, experimenting with Facebook Live, and partnering with influencers on Instagram.

While experimenting with the types of content you post to your social channels, be sure to identify the best times and frequency to post so you can get the highest engagement.

You’ll want to publish at a time when most of your fans and followers are online. These times will differ from channel to channel and depend on your target audience, meaning that what works for one business may not work for yours. However, we can give you some benchmarks to get you started.

In this post, we provide the best times and frequency to post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as per the latest industry research. We also highlight the ways you can identify and set your own. Let’s get started!

Facebook

With more than 1.37 billion daily active users, Facebook is one of the hottest social media networks right now. However, the organic reach is consistently declining. As a result, it’s vital to take a data-driven approach to finding the best times and frequency to post.

The Best Times To Post On Facebook

Here are the steps to follow to find when your fans are online:

Open up your Facebook page

Find the “Insights” tab next to “Publishing Tools”

Click on “Posts” below “Actions on Page”

Now you’ll be on a page that shows the days when most of your fans are online along with the peak times they’re online.

You can also have a look at the published timings of your recent posts and map them against their reach to see what times usually perform the best for your business.

Using these data points, you can determine the times your content performs the best.

Let Us Manage Your Social Media for You! Contact Us to Learn More.

Twitter

Twitter is one of the fastest ways for businesses to connect with their customers because many conversations are happening in real-time. Here’s how you can be part of the conversation and ensure your tweets get seen by the maximum number of people.

The Best Times To Post On Twitter

Here are the steps to follow to find when your followers are online:

Go to your Twitter profile and click on your profile image in the top-right corner

Click on "Analytics"

In the navigation bar, click on "Tweets." You’ll now be able to see tweet metrics for all your tweets.

Click on "Top Tweets"

Top Tweets help you understand what content resonates with your audience, along with the best times to post. We recommend observing at least three months of data (you can change the date range in the top-right corner) for best results.

While reviewing your Top Tweets is a good way to gauge the best times to tweet, it’s also important to factor in different time zones. The best way to do this is to understand where the majority followers are.

Follow these steps:

Go to "Analytics" and click on "Audience"

Select “Your Followers” from the dropdown

Select “Demographics"

You’ll be able to see your follower demographics including age, gender, language, and country.

Schedule your tweets according to the time zones your audience is located.

Note: In the United States, 80% of the population is in the eastern and central time zones. So, schedule your tweets in these two time zones for maximum exposure.

The best times to post are between 9 am - 10 am, 11 am, 2 pm, and 5 pm.

The best days to tweet are midweek and weekends, specifically Wednesday.

How Frequently Should You Post On Twitter?

To boost your Twitter engagement, we recommend tweeting at least 4–5 times/day. If you are a B2C, that number should be higher or lower depending on the industry you’re in.

For example, a B2B business like HubSpot posts anywhere between 8–9 tweets per day while a B2C brand like KFC, tweets anywhere between 24–28 (including service replies). Source: Twitonomy

Your tweets can be a mix of original content, retweets, and curated content.

Instagram

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media networks today. In 2017, more than 70% of U.S. businesses are using Instagram. Source: eMarketer

Since Instagram switched from categorizing posts chronologically to favoring those with the highest engagement, it’s essential for you to understand your follower’s demographics to find the best times and frequency to post.

Post between 1-2 pm, 5 pm, and 2 am on weekends for the highest engagement.

Try to stay away from posting on weekdays because you want to catch people during their leisure time.

If you do post on a weekday, Monday between 8 am-9 am, and Wednesday at 7 pm are the best times to post.

The worst times to post are weekdays from 3 pm-4 pm.

How Frequently Should You Post On Instagram?

Boosting your engagement on Instagram is becoming more difficult due to changes in the algorithm. However, the platform does reward accounts that post quality content that receive high engagement with a higher reach.

If you are a B2B business, we recommend posting on Instagram at least 3–5 times every week. Whether you are posting behind the scenes or team pictures, publishing business insights, or starting conversations, posting consistently is essential. Read our blog post, "5 Tips For Growing Your Brand On Instagram The Right Way" for more information on how to grow your following.

If you are a B2C business, we recommend posting on Instagram at least once per day. This way, you can provide your customers a way to engage with you.

Tip: Use up to 11 hashtags on every post to get more engagement.

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On Social Media, timing is everything. When done right, it results in higher engagements and better conversations about your business.

To get started, use our guided approach and industry insights to create a posting schedule for your business.

What posting schedule has worked for your business? Let us know in the comments below!